


Dragons fly like sparrows

by RedWritingHood



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Crack, Fluff, Gen, Tim and Jason are briefly mentioned, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 17:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12487084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedWritingHood/pseuds/RedWritingHood
Summary: "Fine. If you can smile without looking like you smell blood on the water, I'll concede the point to you."





	Dragons fly like sparrows

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'My Fairy King' by Queen.

The first thing Dick sees when he walks into the dining room is the unreadable expression on Bruce's face as he reads the morning paper.

Dick sighs. "You could stand to smile every once in a while, you know."

Bruce looks up. And smiles.

Dick recoils, then swears. " _Warn me_ before you do that, B!"

All emotion is wiped away. "I was simply taking your advice," Bruce says, like he doesn't know that something pure and happy inside Dick dies every time he has to look at the mask of vapid charm and dull wit that Bruce projects at the public.

"That's not a smile and you know it," Dick says. 

"What nonsense are you spouting now, Grayson?" Damian says as he steps into the room.

"I told Bruce that he should smile more often, and he did."

Damian looks at him as if he had just claimed that the world was flat and Superman had a habit of randomly busting out his banjo-playing skills. "And where, precisely is the problem?"

"It wasn't a real smile," Dick explains. "It was his Brucie face. It was horrifying."

Damian looks at Bruce. Bruce looks down at his youngest son. He smiles.

Damian stares for a moment, then tries to mimic the expression.

He looks like a small shark who just caught sight of some delicious prey.

_Fear. The perfect sauce for any meal._

"Wow," Dick says. "That's . . . not as bad as when Tim does it, actually."

It's not. When Tim does it, he looks dead inside. Like everything from his innocence to his hopes and dreams have been trampled under the unforgiving steel-toed boot of reality. It's one of the most soul-crushing things Dick has ever seen.

Oddly enough, the only one who has ever successfully replicated the expression is Jason. Even Dick, when he first made an attempt, looked about as intelligent as a potato that'd sat out too long. It's baffling.

Damian scowls. "I can do it. I merely require practice." He looks at Bruce and says, "I will not fail you, Father."

"Thank you, Damian," Bruce says. "I know you won't."

"Bruce, no," Dick says. "You can't. That's. That's like selling him to the devil."

Damian scoffs. "Cease this senseless drama of yours, Grayson. Compose yourself with dignity-- if you are even capable of such a feat. This _smile_ is nothing more than yet another weapon to be wielded. You should know that. You use it frequently."

That is.

Not quite the way Dick thinks of it, but. "Fine. If you can smile without looking like you smell blood on the water, I'll concede the point to you."

Damian nods once, sharply. "I accept."

That night, a rumor takes shape amongst the criminal masses.

' _Don't go out at night_ ,' they say to their children. ' _Or Robin will come for your soul_.'

**Author's Note:**

> This is some ridiculous humor to make up for the angst I posted yesterday.


End file.
